Archaeologists in western Türkiye have uncovered a 5,000-year-old stone drainage system, offering new evidence of how an ancient coastal community organized its settlement, managed water and developed trade links across the Aegean Sea.

The discovery was made at Liman Tepe in Urla, Izmir province, one of Türkiye’s important archaeological sites for understanding early coastal communities in Anatolia.

The drainage system consists of stone channels built at different levels. According to Professor Vasif Sahoglu, who heads the excavation, the channels were most likely designed to carry rainwater away from inhabited areas rather than supply drinking water.

Because the land slopes toward the center of the settlement, controlling rainwater would have been important. The system suggests that people living there thousands of years ago had already developed practical ways of managing their surroundings.

Professor Hayat Erkanal began excavations at Liman Tepe in 1992. Since 2020, Professor Sahoglu has led the work on behalf of Ankara University.

Researchers are studying nearly 7,000 years of human settlement at the site. This year’s excavations have concentrated on an area dating back around 5,000 years, revealing what appears to have been a well-organized walled community.

Archaeologists have uncovered streets running between large buildings known as “longhouses.” Some are more than 25 meters long and about five meters wide, making them among the largest structures of their kind from that period in the Aegean region.

The excavation team is effectively working on a street once walked by the inhabitants of Liman Tepe five millennia ago.

Evidence found inside the houses suggests that they served not only as homes but also as places of work and production. Traces of metalworking were discovered in one building, while another contained loom weights associated with textile production.

Researchers believe these structures may therefore have functioned as both homes and workshops, showing that domestic life and skilled production existed side by side.

Large ceramic jars fixed into the ground were also found near the entrances of some houses. They may have been used to store water, grain or other goods, although archaeologists have not yet established exactly what they contained.

An ancient maritime trading community

The discoveries also strengthen evidence that Liman Tepe was connected to a wider maritime trading network.

Archaeologists found pottery originating from the Cyclades islands in the central Aegean. Such pottery is rare in Anatolia, suggesting that Liman Tepe maintained links with Aegean island communities around 4,500 years ago.

The vessels may have carried products such as olive oil or wine, although their original contents remain unknown.

Evidence of sea travel at Liman Tepe goes back even further. In layers dating back around 7,000 years, researchers discovered obsidian originating from Melos, an Aegean island.

Obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass, was widely used for making sharp tools before metal became common. Finding material from Melos at Liman Tepe indicates that people were crossing the Aegean and transporting goods by sea thousands of years ago.

Archaeologists have also discovered what appears to have been a small workshop where large pieces of obsidian were processed into tools after arriving at the settlement.

Taken together, the findings suggest that Liman Tepe was not an isolated community. Its inhabitants possessed maritime skills and maintained connections with communities across the Aegean from a very early period.

An ancient harbor beneath the sea

Research at Liman Tepe also extends offshore to an ancient harbor that is now underwater. Excavations there began in 2000, and Professor Sahoglu has described them as Türkiye’s first underwater archaeological excavation of an ancient harbor.

Researchers are examining areas around a stone breakwater to establish when it was constructed and how long the harbor remained in use.

Underwater investigations have uncovered numerous pottery vessels, including two-handled jars, as well as remains of olives, grapes and hazelnuts. Such discoveries are helping researchers build a clearer picture of the food, economy and trading activities of the people who once lived there.

From its stone drainage channels and large houses to workshops, storage jars and imported materials, Liman Tepe is gradually revealing the story of a surprisingly sophisticated coastal community.

Rather than a “smart city” in the modern sense, the settlement offers something perhaps more remarkable: evidence that thousands of years ago, people on Türkiye’s Aegean coast were already planning their communities, managing water, producing goods and maintaining maritime trade links with the wider world.